Dear Mr Gove, please speak to some actual teenagers before assuming that you know ‘what’s best’ for them…

I am very angry about Mr Gove’s comments on teenagers’ reading habits. I realise that lately this blog has largely turned into an outlet for my school-librarian-wrath, so instead of another rant I’ll just say that I agree wholeheartedly with this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/teacher-network/teacher-blog/2013/may/15/twilight-middlemarch-michael-gove and that I would be delighted to see any teenager in my school reading Twilight as it is age-appropriate, it has resonance for modern teenagers (i.e. falling in love with the wrong person, being different to your peers) and it demonstrates an awareness of current trends and culture.

Perhaps if Mr Gove spoke to some actual teenagers he would understand that given the plethora of alternative modern distractions, a teenager enjoying any book is something to be celebrated and encouraged.

Book of the week (1/10/2012)

My book of the week for next week is Howl’s Moving Castle (yes I’ve started my new job as a School Librarian, but more on that later). I’d almost forgotten how much I loved the Studio Ghibli film, and now I finally have a good excuse to re-read the book! Revisiting the magical world of Sophie, Howl and Calcifer actually makes me look forward to my morning train ride.

I found these amazing postcards on liveforfilms.com and couldn’t resist sharing them :)